PR exec who helped launch Yahoo named CEO of Fluid Inc.

Ed Niehaus, a public relations veteran who help launched the Yahoo! brand, has been named CEO of Fluid Inc., a provider of online merchandising tools. Fluid’s customers include Timberland, Reebok, JanSport and The North Face.

Niehaus is a former long-time CEO of Niehaus Ryan Wong Inc., a branding, marketing and public relations agency that initially built its reputation with the launch of Yahoo! Inc.’s Yahoo.com. The NRW agency also managed public relations for Apple Computer Inc. and the launches of its iMac and PowerBook products. Other NRW clients included Netflix, Wine.com, IBM and MapQuest.

“For more than 25 years, Ed Niehaus has been building brands and businesses in Silicon Valley,” says Fluid chairman Roger Lang. When two Stanford grad students wanted to grow Yahoo! from its university roots, they turned to Ed. When Dan Nordstrom wanted to launch nordstrom.com, he came to Ed. When Steve Jobs came back to turn Apple around and launch the iMac, he called Ed.”

Niehaus joins Fluid from a position as non-executive chairman of Collaborative Drug Discovery Inc., a startup company funded by Eli Lilly Ventures, the Omidyar Network, and Founders’ Fund. He is a director of the Foresight Nanotech Institute, a member of the advisory board of the Software Development Forum, and a member of the Executive Committee of the VC Task Force, a venture capital organization for the software industry.